This invention relates to ammunition transfer mechanism for use in turrets of military tanks. The mechanism can be actuated hydraulically or electrically to sequentially transfer individual rounds of ammunition from magazines at the rear of the turret into the firing chamber of the gun without human effort or assistance other than actuation of the control system. In some respects our invention achieves the same aims as the construction shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,324 issued to E. Zielinski, although our invention is believed to be an improvement over Zielinski in that we are able to store a greater number of ammunition rounds in a given size turret, and we are able to achieve completely automatic ammunition transfer from the magazine into the gun; the Zielinski construction apparently requires the services of a human loader to place each round in the firing chamber.
A principal aim of our invention is to store a relatively large number of ammunition rounds in the rear section of a turret, and to achieve automatic transfer of individual rounds into the gun in a minimum time period, preferably less than 4 seconds. A further object is to subdivide the storage magazine system into two separate magazines adapted to contain different types of ammunition, whereby the gunner can selectively transfer ammunition from either magazine into the gun in accordance with monetary battlefield requirements.